Research On The Publishing Ideas Of William Caxton

As the originator of printing in England and businessman and translator who has firstly introduced typography to England,William Caxton has lived through the ruling House of York and thus witnessed the birth of the Tudor Dynasty.Influenced by the plague,the Hundred Years War,and the peasant war of the previous century,England in the 15^th Century has experienced dramatic population decrease,serious lack of work force,and employment salary doubling;“the growth rates of salary of workers on farms and craftsmen in urban areas were higher than that of the prices of the daily required goods”,which made stock farming with a less demand for labor be able to develop then.Correspondingly,the socioeconomic status in England has been improved,a batch of commercial cities emerged,and the Renaissance and ideological trends of humanism which originated from Italy have also begun to take shape with representatives including Chaucer,John Gower,and John Lydgate.Having experienced the ruling of the ecclesiastical theological thought throughout the whole Middle Ages,the England in the late 15^th Century was in the late Middle Ages;the rising social forces constantly were seeking for new technologies and ideas and thus to certain extent broke the temporal power owned by the churches—they began to take control of cultural education and accelerated the emerging of the humanistic thought.As a representative of the era,William Caxton has presented a new social change in both his career and his work contents.With the pioneering representative William Caxton as the breaking point,the paper was in an attempt to gain knowledge of the then social situation and study Caxton’s publishing philosophy under the background based on the transformation in religious belief,national ideas and personal thoughts since the middle 15^th Century.The timeline in this study ranged from the House of York to the early Tudor Dynasty,i.e.1469—1491;Caxton translated his first literary work in 1469 and thus started his publishing career until his death in 1491.The paper has conducted researches on the characteristics of Caxton’s published works from perspectives of religious belief,national ideas and personal thoughts so as to explore his publishing philosophy.The paper was divided into three parts.The first part is Introduction,including the significance of the topic,literature review at home and abroad,research methods and the originality of the research.As the body of the paper,the second part enjoys three Chapters with each taking about one aspect of Caxton’s publishing philosophy.Chapter One was about the inheritance and improvement of the traditional Christianity in Caxton’s publishing ideas.Firstly,a brief summary of the Christian Church and its evolvement in Caxton’s times has been made:works published by Caxton in the late Middle Ages were based on the then social context of Christianism;according to Caxton’s selection of the published works,it could be seen that firstly Christianity had great influence on Caxton,and secondly the production and change of Protestantism were also worth attention.Because of the decay and coercion in the churches,as well as the emergence of new technologies and ideas,the whole society was extremely dissatisfied with the Christian Churches and there were also reform requirements arising inside the churches.As a devout Christian,Caxton has revealed this contradiction in his selection of published works which served Catholic churches and expressed true faith,and at the same time showed people’s satisfaction with the churches,queries about the nature of the faith and their fight against the churches which were not controlled by England.Chapter Two was about the identification of the united England national concept in Caxton’s publishing philosophy.On the one hand,Caxton’s national concept was manifested in the change of the languages in his published works,and on the other hand,Caxton’s publishing philosophy was analyzed based on his promotion of kingly and secular regime as well as national consciousness;these were mutually reinforcing with the development of the then throne power,and were also closely associated with Caxton’s personal experience and career.The united England national concept in Caxton’s philosophy was explained from three aspects.Chapter Three was mainly about the early humanistic ideas in Caxton’s publishing philosophy.Caxton’s publishing idea was firstly analyzed in his printing selection of the early humanistic representative works,and then was analyzed based on the key types and contents in Caxton’s published works—role of individual in history and personal pursuit of real life were both reflection of Caxton’s early humanistic ideas.The third part of the paper was Conclusion.Based on the analysis of Caxton’s publishing philosophy and taking the social status of England from 1469 to 149 into account,Caxton’s contribution to the development of England during this period was discussed;the relationship between Caxton’s publishing philosophy and social development as well as its far-reaching significance and influence were also concluded.